Method and apparatus for processing plural divided e-mails

ABSTRACT

In accordance with the registration contents of the divided mail table, the control unit determines whether to handle each mail section as one electronic mail or to handle all the interrelated mail sections as one compiled electronic mail and executes a processing in accordance with the determination, when the mail sections are deleted, returned or transferred, after the mail sections are received by a portable phone and stored in the mail memory.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and a device for transfer,deletion and reply for received plural mail sections of a dividedelectronic mail.

BACKGROUND ART

The number of characters in one electronic mail transmission is limited,due to handling limitations of a radio transmission or handlinglimitations of a portable phone display and so forth. Without anychange, this causes great inconvenience to a portable phone user whocannot receive and transmit an electronic mail beyond a certainlimitation, e.g., 250 characters.

Solutions to this problem are available. The technique of JapanesePatent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-51353 can be exemplified. Accordingto this Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-51353, a mail serverreceives an electronic mail addressed to a certain portable phone as afirst step and automatically divides the electronic mail into electronicmail sections with a certain length, if the character number exceedshandling limitations. The electronic mail section(s) divided in this waywill be called “mail section(s)” hereinafter. Then the mail server putsa section number (i/m) on each section and transmits the mail sectionsto an addressee's portable phone. Here “m” is the total number of themail sections and “i” is a certain section number assigned to eachsection of the mail sections. Upon receipt of these sections theaddressee's portable phone sorts the mail sections by referring to thesection number. Then the portable phone displays the mail sections oneby one in numerical order in accordance with user's page turnoveroperation. Through this operation the mail sections are displayed as ifthey were a single non-divided electronic mail.

There are, however, different processing types other than the displayprocessing by user's page turnover operation for mail sections receivedthrough a portable phone. For example, received mail sections can bedeleted from portable phone's memory, returned to the sender, ortransferred to another user's portable phones.

However, operations such as deletion, return and transfer of theabove-mentioned mail sections are inconvenient for users. The problemoriginates from the difficulty of memorizing one electronic mail asplural mail sections.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

In view of the above-mentioned problem, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide users with more convenient processing structuresfor deletion, return, transfer and so on in the matter of receivedplural sections.

In accordance with this object, the present invention provides anelectronic mail system for electronic mail exchange between a first mailclient capable of handling long electronic mails and a second mailclient incapable of handling long electronic mails comprising a mailserver for dividing a long electronic mail transmitted from said firstmail client to said second mail client into plural mail sections inaccordance with data volume of which said second mail client is capableand for transmitting said divided, plural electronic mail sections withan interrelation to said second mail client, and

-   -   wherein, said second mail client comprises:    -   storage means for storing said transmitted plural mail sections        with the interrelation;    -   determination means for determining whether to execute said        processing on a single electronic mail section or to execute        said processing on all of said plural mail sections stored with        the interrelation in accordance with the instructed processing        type, when a processing is instructed for said stored electronic        mail sections; and

execution means for executing said processing in accordance with theoutcome of a determination carried out by said determination means.

The present invention provides users with very convenient environments,since it is determined in accordance with processing types whether toexecute a processing on a single mail section or to execute a processingon all of interrelated plural mail sections.

In addition, the present invention provides a mail server between thefirst mail client capable of handling a long electronic mail and thesecond mail client incapable of handling said long electronic mail. Whenthe mail server receives interrelated plural sections from the secondmail client addressed to the first mail client, the mail server compilesthe mail sections into one electronic mail and transmits the compiledelectronic mail to the first mail client.

In addition, this invention provides a mail transmitter-receivercomprising:

storage means for storing plural mail sections with an interrelation, inthe instance that a long electronic mail is transmitted after beingdivided into plural mail sections with said interrelation;

determination means for determining in accordance with an instructedprocessing type whether to execute said processing on a single mailsection or to execute said processing on all of said plural mailsections, in the instance that an instruction is given to execute aprocessing on the mail sections stored in said storage means; and

executing means for executing said processing in accordance with theoutcome of a determination carried out by said determination means.

In addition, this invention provides a mail transmitter-receiver,wherein said determination means further comprises:

a deletion processing instruction to process collectively theinterrelated plural mail sections;

a return processing instruction to process collectively saidinterrelated plural mail sections;

a transfer processing instruction for a terminal incapable of handlingsaid long electronic mail to process separately said interrelated mailsections; and

a transfer processing instruction for a terminal capable of handlingsaid long electronic mail to process collectively said interrelated mailsections.

In addition, this invention provides a mail processing methodcomprising:

a step for storing plural mail sections with an interrelation, wheninterrelated plural mail sections are received;

a step for determining in accordance with an instructed processing typewhether to execute said processing on a single mail section or toexecute said processing on all of said interrelated plural mailsections, when said processing is instructed on said stored mailsections;

a step for executing said processing in accordance with the outcome of adetermination carried out by the determination step.

In addition, this invention provides a mail processing methodcomprising:

a step for receiving interrelated plural mail sections transmitted fromthe second mail client incapable of handling a long electronic mailaddressed to the first mail client capable of handling a long electronicmail;

a step for compiling said received plural mail sections into oneelectronic mail; and

a step for transmitting said compiled electronic mail to said first mailclient.

In addition, this invention provides a computer program product forcausing a computer to execute:

a step for storing said plural mail sections with an interrelation, wheninterrelated plural mail sections are received;

a step for determining in accordance with an instructed processing typewhether to execute a processing on a single mail section or to execute aprocessing on all of said interrelated plural mail sections; and

a step for executing said processing in accordance with the outcome of adetermination carried out by said determination step.

In addition, this invention provides a computer-readable storage mediumstoring a program for causing a computer to execute:

a step for storing plural mail sections with an interrelation, wheninterrelated plural mail sections are received;

a step for determining whether to execute a processing on a single mailsection or to execute a processing on all of said interrelated pluralmail sections in accordance with an instructed processing type; and

a step for executing said processing in accordance with the outcome of adetermination carried out by said determination step.

In addition, this invention provides a computer program product forcausing a computer to execute:

a step for receiving interrelated plural mail sections transmitted fromthe second mail client incapable of handling a long electronic mailaddressed to the first mail client capable of handling said longelectronic mail;

a step for compiling said received mail sections into one electronicmail; and

a step for transmitting said compiled electronic mail addressed to saidfirst mail client.

In addition, this invention provides a computer-readable storage mediumstoring a program for causing a computer to execute:

a step for receiving interrelated plural mail sections from the secondmail client incapable of handling a long electronic mail addressed tothe first mail client capable of handling a long electronic mail;

a step for compiling said received plural mail sections into oneelectronic mail; and

a step for transmitting said compiled electronic mail to said first mailclient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a total system structure of theembodiment of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a mail server structure of theembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a portable phone structure of theembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a format diagram showing an example of memory contents of theembodiment in the mail storage unit of the portable phone.

FIG. 5 is a format diagram showing an example of memory contents of theembodiment on Divided Mail Table DMT of the portable phone for mailsection processing.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing an operating algorithm for a maileroperation through the portable phone of the embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The preferred mode for utilizing the present invention will be describedin detail by referring to drawings. However, a number of otherembodiments are possible without departing from the inventive concept.

A: Configuration

First of all, the preferred mode configuration will be described.

(1) Configuration of Total System

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a total system of this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, this system mainly consists of portable phones 10A &10B, mobile communication network 20, mail server 25, Internet 30 andpersonal computer (called PC, hereinafter) 40.

Portable phones 10A & 10B are radio communication devices such asterminals of cellular phone or PHS (Registered Trade Mark: PersonalHandyphone System).

These portable phones 10A & 10B store allotted mail addresses forelectronic mail exchange and function as mail clients for electronicmail exchange through mobile communication network 20. However, thenumber of characters in one electronic mail transmission is limited forthese portable phones 10A & 10B. The maximum character number is hereexemplified as 250 characters. An electronic mail transmission of morethan 250 characters will hereinafter be described as a long electronicmail.

Portable phones 10A & 10B have the same structure. Therefore portablephones 10A & 10B will be described as portable phone 10 hereinafter,when it is not necessary to make a distinction between 10A and 10B.

PC 40 is connected to the Internet 30 and consists of a display unit(not shown in the drawings) for information display, an operation unit(not shown in the drawings) for a user operation, a communication unit(not shown in the drawings) for data communication through the Internet30, and so on.

PC 40 stores allocated mail addresses and functions as a mail clientthrough the Internet for electronic mail exchange. PC 40 can handle along electronic mail, which portable phone 10 cannot handle.

Mobile communication network 20 is a network to provide datacommunication service and voice communication service to portable phone10. This mobile communication network 20, connected to the Internet 30through gateway 22, consists of base stations 21, a switching center(not shown in the drawings) and connecting communication cables.

A large number of base stations 21 are situated in a communicationservice area of mobile communication network 20 at regular intervals andthese base stations communicate over radio with portable phones 10located in each base station area, i.e., wireless cell. A switchingstation includes plural base stations and performs a switching functionto cut off or connect communication lines with portable phones 10located in the wireless cell. Gateway 22 has a data relay functionbetween mobile communication network 20 and Internet 30.

Mail server 25 is connected with mobile communication network 20. Mailserver 25 relays electronic mail exchange among mail clients betweenportable phone 10A and 10B, or between PC 40 and one of portable phones10 A & 10 B.

Mail server 25 has a function to divide a long electronic mail into mailsections with 250 or fewer characters as well as a function to compileplural mail sections to recreate the original long electronic mail.

(2) Configuration of Mail Sever 25

The configuration of mail server 25 will be illustrated, referring to ablock diagram of FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, mail server 25 consists of control unit 25 a,communication unit 25 b, hard disc unit 25 c and interconnecting bus 25d.

Control unit 25 a controls each unit of mail server 25 and consists ofCPU (Central Processing Unit) 251 a, ROM (Read Only Memory) 252 a andRAM (Random Access Memory) 253 a. ROM 252 a stores various controlprograms and so on. CPU 251 a executes a variety of control processing,reading out these control programs. Then RAM 253 a is used as a workingarea of CPU 251 a.

Communication unit 25 b consists of a connection interface with Internet30 and a communication control circuit, performing data communicationthrough Internet 30.

Hard disc unit 25 c has a memory area (called mail box 251 chereinafter) to store electronic mails addressed to portable phone 10.

Hard disc unit 25 also stores mail server program 252 c as well as maildividing & compiling program 253 c for dividing long electronic mailaddressed to portable phone 10 and for compiling mail sectionstransmitted from portable phone 10.

Control unit 25 a transmits electronic mails stored in mail box 251 c toportable phone 10 through mobile communication network 20. In theinstance of a long electronic mail transmission, control unit 25 a readsout the mail dividing & compiling program 253 c from hard disc unit 25c, divides the body of the long electronic mail into mail sections with250 or fewer characters, puts a necessary header on each mail sectionand transmits the mail sections one after another to portable phone 10.

On the other hand, when relaying interrelated mail sections fromportable phone 10 to PC 40, control unit 25 a reads out and executes themail dividing & compiling program in hard disc unit 25 c. Control unit25 a recreates the long electronic mail through this performing process,combining the bodies of each mail section after deleting unnecessaryheaders from plural mail sections. Control unit 25 a transmits therecreated long electronic mail to PC 40 via mobile communication network20 and Internet 30.

(3) Configuration of Portable Phone 10

Next, the configuration of portable phone 10 will be illustrated with anexample of portable phone 10A.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the structure of portable phone 10A.Portable phone 10A consists of radio communication unit 11 a, controlunit 12 a, user interface 13 a and interconnecting bus 14 a.

Radio communication unit 11 a, consisting of an antenna and acommunication control circuit (not shown in the drawings), communicatesby radio with base station 21 of mobile communication network 20.

User interface unit 13 a consists of a liquid crystal display capable ofdisplaying information such as an electronic mail (drawing omitted), akeypad for typing, transmitting and receiving electronic mail messages(drawing omitted), and microphone & speaker for user's communication(drawing omitted).

Control unit 12 a controls each unit of this portable phone and Controlunit 12 a consists of CPU 121 a, ROM 122 a and SRAM (Static RandomAccess Memory) 123 a.

Rom 122 a contains various control programs and CPU 121 a executes theprocessing of various control functions in accordance with these controlprograms. These control programs include mailer ML for electronic mailgeneration, transmission & receipt, return, transfer, deletion inaddition to portable phone 10A's well-known programs for communicationfunctions.

SRAM 123 a contains a memory area (called mail memory MM hereinafter)for storing received electronic mails together with Divided Mail TableDMT. Divided Mail Table DMT is a registered table of necessaryinformation for mail section processing. When mail sections contained inmail memory MM are deleted, returned or transferred, control unit 12 adetermines in accordance with DMT registration whether to handle eachmail section separately as a electronic mail or to compile all mailsections into one electronic mail.

(4) Configuration of Mail Memory MM

Next, the configuration of Mail Memory MM will be illustrated.

FIG. 4 is a format table showing an example of memory contents of MailMemory MM. As shown in FIG. 4, Mail Memory MM stores with aninterrelation “Date” for electronic mail receipt date and time, “Mailnumber” for mail ID number, “n/m” for mail section number, “To” foraddressee, “From” for sender, “Title” for electronic mail title and“Body” for body data.

“Date” means date & time when an electronic mail from a sender mailclient is received by mail server 25.

“Mail number” is granted in order to identify each electronic mailwithout confusion, when electronic mails from a sender mail client isreceived by mail server 25.

“M” of a mail section number “n/m” means the total number of the mailsections, while “n” means a section number from the first of the mailsections. For example, n/m “4/9” shows that a long electronic mail isdivided into 9 mail sections and the mail section is the fourth mailsection.

Detailed explanations are omitted concerning “To” for an electronic mailaddressee, “From” for an electronic mail sender, “Title” for anelectronic mail title and “Body” for body data, since they are widelyknown essential data for an electronic mail.

Portable phone 10 can grasp the existence or the non-existence ofinterrelated mail sections by referring to Date, Mail number and n/mstored in Mail Memory MM. FIG. 3 is to be referred. For example, n/m“1/3”, n/m “2/3” and n/m “3/3” mean that an electronic mail is dividedinto 3 mail sections with Mail number “M10101010” and Date “November 13at 9:50”. Namely the mail sections with n/m “1/3”, n/m “2/3”, n/m “3/3”are interrelated. The mail sections are identified by Date “November 13at 9:50” and Mail number “M10101010”. These mail sections are called“interrelated plural mail sections”.

(5) Configuration of Divided Mail Table DMT

Next, the configuration of Divided Mail Table DMT will be illustrated.

FIG. 5 is a format table showing an example of memory contents ofDivided Mail Table DMT. Flag information is registered on Divided MailTable DMT. The flag information shows whether to handle each mailsection as one electronic mail or to handle all of interrelated pluralmail sections as one electronic mail at the time of deletion, return ortransfer.

As for transfer, different flag information is registered respectivelyfor a mail client capable of handling a long electronic mail, or for amail client incapable of handling a long electronic mail.

In FIG. 5, the flag is set up on the “collective” field for execution ofa deletion command, meaning all interrelated sections will be processedas a compiled single electronic mail. Therefore, according to a user'sdeletion command, control unit 12 of portable phone 10 deletescollectively all the interrelated mail sections i.e., the mail sectionswith an identical date, time and mail number from Mail Memory MM.

For execution of a return command, because the flag is set up on the“collective” field, all the mail sections with the same date, time andmail number are returned collectively.

Regarding transfer, as mentioned above, the flag information can be setup according to whether the transferred mail client is able to handlelong electronic mails. In FIG. 5, in the case of a transfer to aterminal incapable of handling long electronic mails, only a targetedsingle mail section is transferred, because the flag is set up in the“separate” field. However, in the case of a transfer to a terminalcapable of handling long electronic mails, plural interrelated mailsections, i.e., all the mail sections with the same date, time and mailnumber are transferred, because the flag is set up in the “collective”field.

At the time of transfer, it is determined from the domain name of thetransferred mail address whether the transferred mail client is able tohandle long electronic mails. For example, in Japan the mail address ofa portable phone incapable of handling long electronic mails isrepresented by xxx@aaa.co.jp, as shown in FIG. 4, so the domain name ofthe mail address is represented by “aaa.co.jp”. Therefore, when portablephone 10 transfers mail sections to an electronic mail address whichcontains the domain name “aaa.co.jp”, portable phone 10 refers to“addressed to the terminal incapable of handling long electronic mails”on Divided Mail Table DMT shown in FIG. 5. On the other hand, whenportable phone 10 transfers mail sections to a mail address whichcontains a domain name other than “aaa.co.jp.”, portable phone 10 refersto “addressed to the terminal capable of handling long electronic mails”on Divided Mail Table shown in FIG. 5 by the determination that theterminal is capable of handling long electronic mails.

The above-mentioned Divided Mail Table DMT is set up in a default modeat the time of shipment. However, users can rewrite the mode accordingto their requirements. Thus users can choose the processing types onmail sections for deletion, return and transfer by their preference.

B: Operation

Next, operations of the embodiment with the above structures will beexplained.

The operations will be explained in the following order:

-   -   (1) Display of Mail Sections    -   (2) Deletion of Mail Sections    -   (3) Return of Mail Sections    -   (4) Transfer of Mail Sections        (1) Display of Mail Section

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of an operation algorithm of mailer MLcontained in ROM 122 implemented by CPU 121 in portable phone 10. Anexample will be provided through FIG. 6, showing a case that portablephone 10 A receives three mail sections corresponding to Date “November13^(th) at 9:50” and Mail number “M10101010” shown in FIG. 4.

Mail server 25 grants Date “November 13^(th) at 9:50” and Mail number“M10101010” to a long mail received on November 13^(th) at 9:50. Afterthat mail server 25 divides the long mail into three mail sections andgrants n/m “1/3”, n/m “2/3”, n/m “3/3” to each mail section. Then mailserver 25 transmits three divided mail sections to portable phone 10 inthe order of n/m “1/3”, n/m “2/3”, n/m “3/3”.

On the other hand CPU 121 receives these mail sections from mail server25 through mobile communication network 20 (Step S1) and stores the mailsections in Mail Memory MM (Step S2). Then CPU 121 determines that thereceived electronic mail is a mail section because the mail contains n/m“1/3”. After CPU 121 receives all the mail sections with the same Date“November 13^(th) at 9:50” and the same mail number “M10101010”, CPU 121sorts these mail sections in the numerical order of n/m “1/3”, n/m“2/3”, n/m “3/3”. Then CPU 121 stores up these mail sections in MailMemory MM.

Next CPU 121 displays a message of a receipt notice on the liquidcrystal display, such as “A mail has been received. Will you open it?YES or NO?”, waiting for user's opening operation (Step S3).

Responding to user's opening operation, CPU 121 reads out the data ofthe electronic mail section with the smallest number of n/m, i.e., n/m“1/3” from Mail Memory MM and displays the data of n/m “1/3” on theliquid crystal display (Step S4).

Next, CPU 121 accepts user's page turnover command (Step S5) anddetermines whether the next n/m exists (Step S6). An electronic mailwith n/m “2/3” exists in this case (Step S6: YES). Therefore CPU 121reads out the data of the mail section from Mail Memory MM and displaysthe data on the liquid crystal display (Step S7).

Hereafter CPU 121 accepts user's page turnover command and repeats thesame process above mentioned. CPU 121 reads out and displays the data ofthe mail sections in numerical order from the smallest number of n/m.After CPU 121 displays the last mail section (Step S6: NO), CPU 121returns to Step S5.

(2) Deletion of Mail Section

In the condition of displaying an electronic mail section of n/m “1/3”in Step S4, if the user inputs a “deletion” command, CPU 121 refers toDivided Mail Table DMT (Step S8) and deletes the mail section inaccordance with the registered contents (Step S9).

In this case, the flag is set up on the “collective” field for the“deletion” on Divided Mail Table DMT shown in FIG. 5. Therefore CPU 121determines that the mail sections should be collectively deleted. ThenCPU 121 deletes all the mail sections, i.e., n/m “1/3”, n/m “2/3”, n/m“3/3” with Date “November 13^(th) at 9:50” and Mail number “M10101010”from Mail Memory MM. Then CPU 121 returns to the process of Step S5.

Furthermore, if the flag is set up in the “separate” field on DividedMail Table DMT for “deletion”, a single mail section, i.e., only n/m“1/3” with Date “November 13^(th) at 9:50” and Mail number “M10101010”isto be deleted from Mail Memory MM.

(3) Return of Mail Section

In the condition of displaying an electronic mail section of n/m “1/3”in Step S4, if the user inputs a “return” command, CPU 121 refers toDivided Mail Table DMT (Step S10) and returns the mail section inaccordance with the registered contents (Step S11).

In this case, the flag is set up in the “collective” field on DividedMail Table DMT for “return”, as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, CPU 121determines that the mail sections should be returned collectively. ThenCPU 121 reads out and returns the mail sections, i.e., not onlydisplayed n/m “1/3” but also n/m “2/3” and n/m “3/3” with Date “November13^(th) at 9:50” and Mail number “M10101010” one after another to senderPC 40.

On the other hand, mail server 25 receives above returned mail sectionsone after another. Then mail server 25 compiles the bodies of the mailsections through “n/m”, after mail server 25 deletes unnecessary headersof these mail sections. The mail server 25 returns the compiledelectronic mail to the addressed personal computer 40.

It is general that users add optionally a return message to thedisplayed mail section. If the return message was added, the number ofcharacters of the displayed mail section will surpass the maximumlimitation of 250 characters by added characters of the return message.In this case CPU 121 deletes the last unit of the displayed body of themail section as many as the return message characters to arrange thetotal characters to be 250 characters.

In an alternative way, users can delete an unnecessary unit of the mailsection by his own operation. Afterwards users can inputs a returnmessage up to the shortage caused by the deletion operation to be 250total characters.

When the body of the mail section is rewritten as mentioned above, thestored mail section of n/m “1/3” in Mail Memory MM will not be returned,but the mail section with the rewritten body is to be returned.

Moreover, in case that the flag is set up in the “separate” field onDivided Mail Table DMT for “return”, a single mail section, i.e., n/m“1/3” with Date “November 13^(th) at 9:50” and Mail number “M10101010”is to be returned.

(4) Transfer of Mail Section

In the condition of displaying an electronic mail section of n/m “1/3”in Step S4, if the user inputs a “transfer” command addressed to anotherportable phone 10B, CPU 121 refers to Divided Mail Table DMT through thedomain name of the transferred mail address (Step S12) and transfers themail section in accordance with the registered contents (Step S13).

In the case of “transfer” “to a terminal incapable of handling longelectronic mails”, CPU 121 determines that mail sections should betransferred separately, since the flag is set up in the “separate” fieldon Divided Mail Table DMT shown in FIG. 5. Therefore CPU 121 transfersthe mail section of n/m “1/3” with displayed Date “November 13^(th) at9:50” and Mail number “M10101010” to portable phone 10B. The transmittedmail section is relayed by mail server 25 and transferred to portablephone 10B.

At the time of the transfer operation, it is general that usersoptionally add a transfer message to the displayed mail section.Therefore the character number of the mail section will surpass themaximum of 250 characters as many as the character number of thistransfer message.

In this case, in the same way as in the above return message, the lastunit of the body of the mail section is deleted and the total message isarranged to be 250 characters by CPU 121. Or users can delete anunnecessary unit of the mail section by his own operation. Afterwardsusers can inputs a transfer message up to the shortage caused by thedeletion operation to be 250 total characters.

The operation should be as follows for the transfer to a terminalcapable of handling long electronic mails. In this case, CPU 121determines that the mail sections should be transferred collectively,since the flag is set up in the “collective” field on Divided Mail TableDMT for the “transfer” “to a terminal capable of handling longelectronic mails”. And CPU 121 reads out the corresponding mail sectionsfrom Mail Memory MM and transfers the mail sections in succession to theterminal. Mail Server 25 receives the transmitted mail sections oneafter another. After mail server 25 deletes the unnecessary headers ofthe mail sections, mail server 25 compiles the mail sections into anelectronic mail in accordance with n/m. Then mail server 25 transfersthe compiled electronic mail to the terminal.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, flexible mail processing can becarried out, since it is possible to handle delete, return, and transferfunctions in various ways on the basis of the registration of DividedMail Table DMT.

In addition, users can rewrite the registration contents of the DividedMail Table DMT. Therefore the processing can be carried out suitable tousers' requirements.

The invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. Variousmodifications can be made within the scope of the technological spiritof the invention.

For example, it is registered on Divided Mail Table DMT how to delete,return and transfer mail sections in the above-mentioned embodiment.However, the invention is not limited to this way. Users can instructevery time to be collective or separate for deletion, return andtransfer.

In addition, portable phone 10 is exemplified as a mail client incapableof handling long electronic mails and PC 40 as a mail client capable ofhandling long electronic mails in the embodiment. However, the inventionis not limited to this way. Other types of mail clients are applicable.

In addition, the definition of a long electronic mail is not limited toan electronic mail exceeding 250 characters. The standard characternumber can be changed in various ways in accordance with thespecifications for mail clients.

Furthermore, the invention can be carried out by distributing theprograms, which are carried out in portable phone 10 or in mail server25, through a network. In addition, the invention can be carried out bydistributing the programs stored in a computer readable memory mediumsuch as magnetic tape, magnetic disk, diskette, optical memory medium,optical magnetic memory medium, DVD (Digital Versatile Disk).

1. A mail processing method comprising: storing plural mail sections asinterrelated plural mail sections when the plural mail sections arereceived with an interrelation; determining, when instructing a transferof the interrelated plural mail section to a mail client that isincapable of handling long electronic mails, to execute the transfer ona single mail section among the interrelated plural mail sections, andwhen instructing a transfer of the interrelated plural mail sections toa mail client that is capable of handling long electronic mails, toexecute the transfer on all of the interrelated plural mail sections;and executing the instructed transfer following an outcome of adetermination carried out in the determination step.
 2. Acomputer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing acomputer to execute: changing information in a processing tablecontaining information for each one of types of processing indicatingwhether to execute a processing of the each one of types on a singlemail section among interrelated plural mail sections or on all of theinterrelated plural mail sections; storing plural mail sections asinterrelated plural mail sections when the plural mail sections arereceived with an interrelation; determining, when a processing isinstructed on the interrelated plural mail sections, whether to executethe processing on a single mail section among the interrelated pluralmail sections or on all of the interrelated plural mail sections, basedon information in the processing table for a type of the instructedprocessing contained; and executing the instructed processing followingan outcome of a determination carried out in the determination step. 3.A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing acomputer to execute: storing plural mail sections as interrelated pluralmail sections when the plural mail sections are received with aninterrelation; determining, when instructing a transfer of theinterrelated plural mail sections to a mail client that is incapable ofhandling long electronic mails, to execute the transfer on a single mailsection among the interrelated plural mail sections, and wheninstructing a transfer of the interrelated plural mail sections to amail client that is capable of handling long electronic mails, toexecute the transfer on all of the interrelated plural mail sections;and executing the instructed transfer following an outcome of adetermination carried out in the determination step.
 4. A mailtransmitter-receiver comprising: storage means for storing interrelatedplural mail sections, when a long electronic mail is transmitted afterbeing divided into plural mail sections with an interrelation, and forstoring a processing table containing information for each one of typesof processing indicating whether to execute a processing of the each oneof types on a single mail section among the interrelated plural mailsections or on all of the interrelated plural mail sections; tablechange means for changing information in the processing table inaccordance with an operation carried out by a user of the mailtransmitter-receiver; determination means for determining, when aprocessing is instructed for the interrelated plural mail sections,whether to execute the processing on a single mail section among theinterrelated plural mail sections or on all of the interrelated pluralmail sections, based on information in the processing table for a typeof the instructed processing contained; and execution means forexecuting the instructed processing following an outcome of adetermination carried out by the determination means.
 5. The mailtransmitter-receiver according to claim 4, wherein the types ofprocessing comprises at least one of deletion, return, and transfer ofan electronic mail.
 6. A mail transmitter-receiver comprising: storagemeans for storing interrelated plural mail sections, when a longelectronic mail is transmitted after being divided into plural mailsections with an interrelation; determination means for determining,when a transfer for the interrelated plural mail sections is instructedto a third mail client incapable of handling long electronic mails, toexecute the transfer on a single mail section among the interrelatedplural mail sections, and when a transfer for the interrelated pluralmail sections is instructed to a third mail client capable of handlinglong electronic mails, to execute the transfer on all of theinterrelated plural mail sections; and execution means for executing theinstructed processing of transfer following an outcome of adetermination carried out by the determination means.
 7. The mailtransmitter-receiver according to claim 6, wherein the determinationmeans determines whether the third mail client is incapable or capableof handling long electronic mails based on format of an address of themail client.
 8. The mail transmitter-receiver according to claim 6,wherein the storage means stores a processing table containinginformation for each one of types of processing indicating whether toexecute a processing of the each one of types on a single mail sectionamong the interrelated plural mail sections or on all of theinterrelated plural mail sections, the mail transmitter-receiver furthercomprises table change means for changing information in the processingtable in accordance with an operation carried out by a user of the mailtransmitter-receiver; and the determination means performs thedetermination when information in the processing table indicates toexecute a processing of transfer on all of the interrelated plural mailsections.
 9. A mail processing method comprising: changing informationin a processing table containing information for each one of types ofprocessing indicating whether to execute a processing of the each one oftypes on a single mail section among interrelated plural mail sectionsor on all of the interrelated plural mail sections; storing plural mailsections as interrelated plural mail sections when the plural mailsections are received with an interrelation; determining, when aprocessing is instructed on the interrelated plural mail sections,whether to execute the processing on a single mail section among theinterrelated plural mail sections or on all of the interrelated pluralmail sections, based on information in the processing table for a typeof the instructed processing contained; and executing the instructedprocessing following an outcome of a determination carried out in thedetermination step.
 10. The mail processing method according to claim 9,wherein the types of processing comprise at least one of deletion,return, and transfer of an electronic mail.
 11. An electronic mailsystem for exchanging electronic mails among mail clients including afirst mail client capable of handling long electronic mails and a secondmail client incapable of handling long electronic mails, comprising: amail server for dividing a long electronic mail transmitted from thefirst mail client and addressed to the second mail client into pluralmail sections in accordance with data volume of which the second mailclient is capable of handling, and for transmitting the plural mailsections, as interrelated plural mail sections, to the second mailclient, wherein the second mail client comprises: storage means forstoring the interrelated plural mail sections received from the mailserver, and for storing a processing table containing information foreach one of types of processing indicating whether to execute aprocessing of the each one of types on a single mail section among theinterrelated plural mail sections or on all of the interrelated pluralmail sections; table change means for changing information in theprocessing table in accordance with an operation carried out by a userof the second mail client; determination means for determining, when aprocessing is instructed for the interrelated plural mail sections,whether to execute the processing on a single mail section among theinterrelated plural mail sections or on all of the interrelated pluralmail sections, based on information in the processing table for a typeof the instructed processing contained; and execution means forexecuting the instructed processing following an outcome of adetermination carried out by the determination means.
 12. The electronicmail system according to claim 11, wherein the types of processingcomprise at least one of deletion, return, and transfer of theelectronic mail.
 13. The electronic mail system according to claim 11,wherein when the second mail client is instructed to return all of theinterrelated plural mail sections, the execution means of the secondmail client generates plural mail sections composing a return electronicmail addressed to the first mail client, and transmits the generatedplural mail sections to the mail server, and when the mail serverreceives the plural mail sections of the return electronic mail from thesecond mail client, the mail server compiles the received plural mailsections into the return electronic mail, and transmits the compiledreturn electronic mail to the first mail client.
 14. An electronic mailsystem for exchanging electronic mails among mail clients including afirst mail client capable of handling long electronic mails and a secondmail client incapable of handling long electronic mails, comprising: amail server for dividing a long electronic mail transmitted from thefirst mail client and addressed to the second mail client into pluralmail sections in accordance with data volume of which the second mailclient is capable of handling, and for transmitting the plural mailsections, as interrelated plural mail sections, to the second mailclient, wherein the second mail client comprises: storage means forstoring the interrelated plural mail sections received from the mailserver, determination means for determining, when a processing oftransfer to a third mail client incapable of handling long electronicmails is instructed for the interrelated plural mail sections, toexecute the processing of transfer on a single mail section among theinterrelated plural mail sections, and when a processing of transfer toa third mail client capable of handling long electronic mails isinstructed for the interrelated plural mail sections, to execute theprocessing of transfer on all of the interrelated plural mail sections;and execution means for executing the instructed processing of transferfollowing an outcome of a determination carried out by the determinationmeans.
 15. The electronic mail system according to claim 14, wherein thedetermination means of the second mail client determines whether thethird mail client is incapable or capable of handling long electronicmails based on format of an address of the mail client.
 16. Theelectronic mail system according to claim 14, wherein the storage meansof the second mail client stores a processing table containinginformation for each one of types of processing indicating whether toexecute a processing of the each one of types on a single mail sectionamong the interrelated plural mail sections or on all of theinterrelated plural mail sections, the second mail client furthercomprises table change means for changing information in the processingtable in accordance with an operation carried out by a user of thesecond mail client; and the determination means of the second mailclient performs the determination when information in the processingtable indicates to execute a processing of transfer on all of theinterrelated plural mail sections.
 17. The electronic mail systemaccording to any one of claims 11 and 14, wherein when the second mailclient is instructed to transfer all of the interrelated plural mailsections to a third mail client capable of handling long electronicmails, the execution means of the second mail client addresses each ofthe interrelated plural mail sections to the third mail client andtransmits each of the interrelated plural mail sections to the mailserver, and when the mail server receives the interrelated plural mailsections from the second mail client, the mail server compiles thereceived plural mail sections into an electronic mail and transmits thecompiled electronic mail to the third mail client.
 18. The electronicmail system according to any one of claims 11 and 14, wherein the secondmail client is a portable phone served by a mobile communicationnetwork.
 19. The electronic mail system according to claim 18, whereinthe first mail client is a computer connected to the Internet, which isconnected to the mobile communication network.